Wow, the new look is amazing! Crisp and shiny.

Getting started with the logic blocks can be a pain, but once you get it working...

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Vulkan on game consoles means more developers are getting used to it. It also means less games rely on DirectX. It sends a signal to manufacturers and driver suppliers. Supporting Vulkan is better than developing a new custom API or using an interface that is maintained by a competitor.

Considering the average development timespan for a game these days the low number of titles supporting a new API is no need to worry. Big engine developers announced Vulkan support already. Targeting the steam runtime to make your game run on Linux is easier as working on a broad selection of distributions with a small team in house.

In my opinion it all boils down to: yes, these are signs for the better and the number of titles supporting Linux will keep rising. Did the Nintendo Switch cause that shift? No, but if their support turns out to be true and well done, it will help for sure.

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I played Elite, Wingcommander, Freespace and a lot of other space games, but I like X the most. Welcome back, old friend!

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I really like how the repository for DRL is still called doomrl :)

They changed the subdomain on chaosforge though...

What matters is both games are still alive and doing well.

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There is this thing about Zach-Games, that the developers might ship some levels they didn't even solve themselves, they just let the community figure it out somehow. So far it worked out well I guess.

I think the first levels of each Zachtronic game are easy enough to get a clue about how to get things going. But the real treat is figuring out the things that are not that obvious, like building a straight line in SpaceChem instead of a circle for a waldo, or "parking" a value in an otherwise unused node with something like a single "mov any any" instruction or resetting the acc register with "sub acc" in TIS-100. And even if you managed to beat every level of the game - did you do so in a way that optimizes for one or several of the KPI like number of instructions or runtime? This optimization is the real endgame content in those titles.

As for grasping the concepts of TIS-100, I once explained it like this: don't look at all nodes at once, but rather concentrate on a single node (that is, the square with the acc and bak register and up to 15 lines of code) and break down your problem into something you can manage in that closed environment. To get even more visual and less abstract, imagine each node as a house with someone in there who can only perform the max of 15 commands written on the floor. With one hand she always points to the current command in the list, while she grabs a token with a value from either one of the four input nodes (think doors or windows) or the acc register (a storage closet), performs an arithmatic operation on the token in the acc or swaps the acc token with the bak one (you could think of the acc and bak being two halves of a closet, with only one of them being accessible via a sliding door that can only reveal one of them at any time, the sliding door acting as the swap command where the open part represents the acc and the hidden one the bak), or throws the currently held token to one of the outputs. Between each two houses is a person that will take a token from the door or window on one side and put it on the door mat or window sill on the opposite side, but only if the other side is currently empty. That's really it. Look up the current command from the short list and move tokens from either of the 4 inputs plus the acc register to any of the same 5. Every node does that, if it performs at least one action. And some of them will manipulate the value of the token in the stash or see if its value is lower, higher or equal to zero.

This is the whole of TIS-100 gameplay in one paragraph. The rest is just about the interaction between the nodes, waiting for others to finish their job or determining the command to perform next depending on the value we received from them. About putting these simple tasks to perform in a seemingly complex way.

Yes, the Zachtronic games serve a niche client, but those selected few love them all because of this.

If you cannot decide if the Zach games are something for you and would like to demo them, you could try http://leonardo.frozenfractal.com/ [External Link] instead. It's a browser based painting machine with a number of colored brushes, working on a canvas by instructions printed on punchcards. If you manage to solve the first 5 to eight levels and had fun, definitely give SpaceChem, InfiniFactory, TIS-100 or Shenzen I/O a go. Or Human Resource Machine. These programming puzzle games form a subgenre of their own and once you got hooked, you have to play them all.

Next step up would be programming the DCPU in games like Tech Compliant (https://twitter.com/techcompliant), which will enter a public alpha soon. It's the spiritual successor to 0x10c, the game Notch never got around to really do while still at Mojang. They took the concept and drove it off in a direction I am really looking forward to.

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I usually like the biased tone of GamingOnLinux, it gives character to the site and its authors.

But this is one of the articles that get over the tipping point for me. OK, it could have been even worse with a clickbait topic like "DoomRL is doomed!!!1!", but it is still strongly opinionated in both the article itself as well as Liam defending his point of view down here in the comments.

Yes, such a legal letter is a threat if it is targeted at something that makes you earn the money for your living. But it is not threatening to take the site and the game(s) down at all. They just don't want their trademarks to be used by someone else. If Kornel Kisielewicz and Mossmouth change the name of the new project and other trademarked properties like the Doom logo, the demands of this letter are well fulfilled and both the site and the game will just continue.

Repeat: Zenimax is not trying to end the site and the game! They just don't want the DoomRL guys to use branded properties they don't own or licensed to use.

Kornel and Derek will have to change names, graphics if their work and probably even their subdomain (doom.chaosforge.org) and that's about it. This will not be the end of anything, it just gets a different name and a slightly different look. Hell, most game projects undergo such changes, it's just that the public might not know about it, the press not writing about it and the reasons might be different. But changing the name of a game or graphics or even art style or whatever is nothing to worry about in the biz.

Yes, it is noteworthy. Yes, we should all know so that we can update our inner radar and our bookmarks.

But it is not the death of a project or a website. And it is not proof of big bad corporates crushing the small heralded indie developer.

And even if this turns out to be the point of no return for them and they decide to call quits, the project might have faced other difficulties in the first place and not just this one.

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No matter what the results of this test will be, I'd really hope to read a postmortem on that.

What was giving you the most headaches? What did you do to fight it? Did you try to do all on your own or did you reach out for help?

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Full VR support :)

Both the new Doom and Thief as well as Dishonored 2 (or even the first one). I might be able to play Deus Ex: Mankind Divided right now, but that does not mean I could not spend the same amount of time in Dishonored2!

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Quoting: km3kThe perspective and art style reminds me of Bastion.

Or Torchlight.

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Thumbs up, I like it! As a heads up, importing the .ical to Thunderbird worked fine, the events show up at the correct local time.

How about different calendar files, so the community could add events other than livestreams as well. There could be a calendar file for linux user gaming meetups or hackery or maker assemblies. Or genre or even game specific calendars to rally community members.

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